Computational Spectroscopy of the Cr–Cr Bond in Coordination Complexes

We report the accurate computational vibrational analysis of the Cr–Cr bond in dichromium complexes using second-order multireference complete active space methods (CASPT2), allowing direct comparison with experimental spectroscopic data both to facilitate interpreting the low-energy region of the spectra and to provide insights into the nature of the bonds themselves. Recent technological development by the authors has realized such computation for the first time. Accurate simulation of the vibrational structure of these compounds has been hampered by their notorious multiconfigurational electronic structure that yields bond distances that do not correlate with bond order. Some measured Cr–Cr vibrational stretching modes, ν(Cr2), have suggested weaker bonding, even for so-called ultrashort Cr–Cr bonds, while others are in line with the bond distance. Here we optimize the geometries and compute ν(Cr2) with CASPT2 for three well-characterized complexes, Cr2(O2CCH3)4(H2O)2, Cr2(mhp)4, and Cr2(dmp)4. We obtain CASPT2 harmonic ν(Cr2) modes in good agreement with experiment at 282 cm−1 for Cr2(mhp)4 and 353 cm−1 for Cr2(dmp)4, compute 50Cr and 54Cr isotope shifts, and demonstrate that the use of the so-called IPEA shift leads to improved Cr–Cr distances. Additionally, normal mode sampling was used to estimate anharmonicity along ν(Cr2) leading to an anharmonic mode of 272 cm−1 for Cr2(mhp)4 and 333 cm−1 for Cr2(dmp)4.

Computational Spectroscopy of the Cr–Cr Bond in Coordination Complexes

We report the accurate computational vibrational analysis of the Cr–Cr bond in dichromium complexes using second-order multireference complete active space methods (CASPT2), allowing direct comparison with experimental spectroscopic data both to facilitate interpreting the low-energy region of the spectra and to provide insights into the nature of the bonds themselves. Recent technological development by the authors has realized such computation for the first time. Accurate simulation of the vibrational structure of these compounds has been hampered by their notorious multiconfigurational electronic structure that yields bond distances that do not correlate with bond order. Some measured Cr–Cr vibrational stretching modes, ν(Cr2), have suggested weaker bonding, even for so-called ultrashort Cr–Cr bonds, while others are in line with the bond distance. Here we optimize the geometries and compute ν(Cr2) with CASPT2 for three well-characterized complexes, Cr2(O2CCH3)4(H2O)2, Cr2(mhp)4, and Cr2(dmp)4. We obtain CASPT2 harmonic ν(Cr2) modes in good agreement with experiment at 282 cm−1 for Cr2(mhp)4 and 353 cm−1 for Cr2(dmp)4, compute 50Cr and 54Cr isotope shifts, and demonstrate that the use of the so-called IPEA shift leads to improved Cr–Cr distances. Additionally, normal mode sampling was used to estimate anharmonicity along ν(Cr2) leading to an anharmonic mode of 272 cm−1 for Cr2(mhp)4 and 333 cm−1 for Cr2(dmp)4.

Interactions in Ternary Aqueous Solutions of NMA and Osmolytes—PARAFAC Decomposition of FTIR Spectra Series

Intermolecular interactions in aqueous solutions are crucial for virtually all processes in living cells. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy is a technique that allows changes caused by many types of such interactions to be registered; however, binary solutions are sometimes difficult to solve in these terms, while ternary solutions are even more difficult. Here, we present a method of data pretreatment that facilitates the use of the Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) decomposition of ternary solution spectra into parts that are easier to analyze. Systems of the NMA–water–osmolyte-type were used to test the method and to elucidate information on the interactions between N-Methylacetamide (NMA, a simple peptide model) with stabilizing (trimethylamine N-oxide, glycine, glycine betaine) and destabilizing osmolytes (n-butylurea and tetramethylurea). Systems that contain stabilizers change their vibrational structure to a lesser extent than those with denaturants. Changes in the latter are strong and can be related to the formation of direct NMA–destabilizer interactions.